Snow Flurries

I think Wal-Mart owns the Weather Channel.  That thought occurred to me last night as I waited in line behind a big woman with a shopping cart full of milk and bread.  Making chit chat, I asked “why all the milk and bread?”  “It’s going to SNOW” she spat.  Oh, I thought.  When I got home I learned that there was a slight chance of snow flurries today.  I could almost see those Wal-Mart executives in a board room……our numbers are down for this month….let’s stock up on milk, bread and batteries then forecast snow in Alabama.
The last big snow we had was in 92 or 93.  I had been at work and Jilda kept calling me saying “when are you coming home it’s starting to snow.”  I thought of all the times in the past…all the false alarms. We’d get a dusting this morning and you could lie out and get a sun tan that afternoon.  But Jilda kept calling and finally I acquiesced and headed home.  As the visibility diminished, I realized that this was not a regular snow day.  I made it home with a lot of effort and we made hot chocolate, sat on the couch and watch the snow fall out our front windows.  We went out and played in the snow with our nieces and nephews who live next door. It was a lot of fun and I can see why kids love the snow….well the fact that they get out of school figures large in that equation.   But it got a lot less fun as the snow kept falling.  Before we knew it, the white fluffy stuff was butt deep to giraffe and then our power went off.  This was NOT good news for us because our house at that time was total electric….no heat, no stove, and the next day we had no phone. I felt like Robinson Caruso with a snippy wife.
We made it through the first day because we had a gas grill on the porch and we were able to make coffee and heat up soup but that stuff didn’t go very far.  By the third day, we were wrapped up in layers of clothes and lying in the sun that was peeking through our garden doors. Lying there with our breath escaping in clouds that looked like cigarette smoke, I had not had a bath, had not shaved nor talked to the outside world for three days.  Jilda looked up at me as said “we look like street people,” and I had to agree.  The thing that saved us is Jilda’s brother who lives next door had a gas range that did not require electricity.  So we managed to eat.  
The next day when the temps started rising and the snow gradually began to melt, I made an important decision.  I called Country Gas and asked them to install a propane heater and a gas stove in our all electric house.  It might snow and we might lose power, but we’ll never feel like street people in our homes again.  
Hey, I think I just saw a snowflake…think I’ll see if we have some milk and bread in the fridge.